(( Warning: This post contains rather dark themes in a few places in the story, and will not be for the squeamish! If you want to check out the Brinebreaker-Tidesage campaign finale, but want a tame version, I can edit those bits and send it to you! Just let me know! Otherwise, enjoy the big climax! ))
December 7
Whitewind Company and Voyager Allies Locate Tidesage, Discover Secret Identity, Bring a Permanent End to Tidesage's Plans!
The Whitewind Company and their Voyager allies, a task force including Nahlia Lifebloom, Natasha Ebonlocke, Maya Maxwell, Carilina Halverson, and a late addition in Rylee Mhorrigan, were witnessed by Boralus citizens teleporting into the city and heading down to the Tradewinds Market ferry master, Will Melbourne, in pursuit of a lead stemming from the latest, and final, series of oddly related and vivid dreams each member of the group had had.
The dreams were thus:
Nat had dreamed that she was standing at the ferry dock in the Tradewinds Market in Boralus, knowing in her dream somehow that she was supposed to ride a ferry almost directly south in order to find the Tidesage somewhere in that direction.
Nah had dreamed that she was on a ferry, going right through the middle of Boralus, through slums and upscale areas alike, before reaching a dock only just outside the city. Near the end of the ferry ride, however, she passed a spot that gave her an extremely dark chill. Once she passed it and disembarked from the ferry, the dark, chilling feeling was gone.
Maya had dreamed she rode a ferry from Boralus to a small dock just outside the city. When she disembarked, she looked to her left and saw a large rock, big enough to hold a large keep, jutting up out of the water, plateauing off at about twenty feet. A dark stormcloud was gathered overtop of just this rock, and the thunderstorm pounding the rock seemed to be something dark and sinister.
Cari had dreamed she was standing on a small pier only just outside of Boralus, and she was looking back at the city. The nearest section of the city seemed even more dark and sinister than the worst part of the slums, yet it was to this section you somehow knew she must go. She somehow floated across the water to the dark, sinister section, making landfall on the southwest corner of the rock and climbing a moderately steep slope to enter this part of the city.
Rylee, arriving late to the expedition, and only just in time to provide the final clue, had dreamed she was standing on the southwestern corner of a small island portion of Boralus. You entered a compound built upon it from here, and you were dressed for swimming.
The group, minus Rylee, had discussed their dreams in Stormwind City on the porch of the Blue Recluse prior to teleporting to Stormwind, and had arranged them into this chronological order to follow.
Now having reached Ferry Master Will Melbourne, the group viewed the ferry map and spoke with the ferry master to determine which ferry point would, in keeping with Nat’s dream, go almost directly south to a point that, in keeping with Nah’s dream, be only just outside the Boralus city limits.
Eastpoint Station was the one will Melbourne pointed out on his map that matched the group’s criteria. Local eyewitnesses report that, after displaying their ferry passes and securing passage, the group rode the ferry from Tradewinds Market to Eastpoint Station.
The ride was peaceful and somehow even beautiful, according to locals and according to Nat in a Whitewind Company debrief. The city strewn over the waters of a Kul Tiran bay was somehow lovely from this vantage point, and not only the upscale portions of town. Even the slums, from this angle, looked akin to a seafood restaurant elsewhere in the world that had been trussed up with boardwalks supported by fat wooden posts with thick bull ropes for rails linking each one.
Upon reaching Eastpoint Station, in keeping with Maya’s dream, the group looked to their left, immediately spotting a point that fit with Maya’s dream of a storm-blown rocky island and Nah’s dream of passing something dark and sinister near the end of their trip: Stormsong Monastery, the monastery of the tidesages!
Could this really be it? Was The Tidesage hiding in plain sight, in so obvious a locale? There was only one way to find out…
In keeping with Cari’s dream, the group was witnessed by Eastpoint Station locals traveling by air to the southwest corner of the little island. Cari rode on the back of Maya’s massive owl form, and Nah rode with Nat on Onyx as the group made a short flight over the water. Landing at the water’s edge, the entrance to the monastery did, indeed, seem a bit steep.
Upon entering, however, the group didn’t know what to do next. They found themselves awkwardly standing inside a gate to the monastery, the tidesages inside seeming to be too busy to pay them any heed as they peered around at the ramshackle wood roofs of the covered walkways inside the stout, but short, stone walls. Directly ahead was a small flight of stairs leading to a platform and a wooden table with a long, oval-shaped blue cloth along it that gave it the appearance of a rudimentary altar of some sort. Beyond and below this platform and table was a rectangular pool of water.
It was here that Nat, realizing some portion of the dreams must have been missed, gave Rylee a call. Activating the speaker on her Whitewind Company communicator so that the group could hear, Rylee, who was now on her way, told the group of her dream of entering a compound much like this one while dressed for swimming. Peering ahead at the pool, the group did not much relish the prospect… The pool looked slimy, murky, full of seaweed and other debris, and, most off-putting of all… It had just begun snowing! Worse, the group had just heard Nat speaking to them in the Void language Shath’Yar again, and Nat still didn’t realize she was doing so!
Rylee appeared a short time later, having rode the ferry to Eastpoint Station and flown across the water, just as the group had. The group hastily changed into something they could swim in and then change back out of to get back into dry clothes, then reluctantly approached the freezing cold water. Easing themselves in, they immediately began shivering, their teeth chattering as they spoke to each other. Nah dived deep, resurfacing moments later and reporting having seen a cave entrance down at the bottom of the pool. Nat used a spell from her fel summoning days, a spell of underwater breathing that also increased swim speed, on the group, and down they went.
The dive through murky water was dark, frigid, and deeply unpleasant. Bits of what looked like coral reef stuck out from the cave walls, a school of fish seemed to hover near the surface, leaving the group alone, and the bottom of the pool revealed an outcropping of rock that obscured from view an underwater cave that led up to a pocket of air at the end with dry land.
Here were located various paraphernalia of the Tidesage’s magical activities: an ominous-looking altar carved in a tall obelisk of rock to look like a kraken was taking it under, braziers designed to look like they were being held up by krakens, with kraken tentacles also emerging in the centers of their bowls, and a tall pair of twin candelabras, one to either side of the altar, with the candelabras wrought to appear as krakens, with the eight tentacles of either holding up candles. Altogether, the candles and the braziers provided enough light to see around the cave… enough to see a pile of human bones to the left of the altar! Seaweed, stalactites, and stalagmites combined with rivulets of water dripping in from all over to form a moat of sorts around the dry land completed the ominous setting.
The group each immediately began remarking on various facets of the cave, expressing dismay over the ominous setting and generally feeling a bit of anxiety.
No sooner had they started, however, than the eerily familiar woman’s voice, the one all but Nat had heard during each magical recording, yet one Nat heard this time, and recognized as well, boomed out from an unseen location, demanding to know who had disturbed her in her sanctuary!
The Tidesage began admonishing the group for their intrusion from wherever she was, but then cut herself off. Her anger immediately turned to anxiety and worry herself, her words directed now at Nat.
“Oh, no… No no no… Dear, dear sister, you were never supposed to find me again… Not yet...”
Nat, fearing a resurrection of the dead, replied, “Sister…? Y-you mean… Th-Thea? Y-you don’t sound like Thea…”
“Come out, Joan!” Cari demanded, still convinced she was right about the Tidesage’s secret identity.
The Tidesage did, indeed, come out, then. Emerging from behind the altar, she moved into the light and stood before the group in front of the towering obelisk. Peering closely at Cari from under her hood, she made her own demands of Cari.
“How did you know who I am? How did you even find me?”
Nat gasped loudly, her eyes going wide. It really WAS Joanessa Seaslums! Joan, her Kul Tiran friend she had spent so much time with, Joan, who she had thoroughly believed to have been murdered, Joan, who braved the slums to feed the poor, hungry, and destitute of Boralus’ slums from her own presumed-dead husband’s crab and lobster traps, was the evil Tidesage! How could this be?! All she could manage, however, was:
“YOU!”
Nah and Cari immediately began pelting Joan with questions while Nat spluttered about Joan being dead, and Maya and Rylee were sniffing at the bones in their cat and bear forms, respectively. Maya shifted to worgen form to report that the bones carried the scent of not Joan, but rather, the unfamiliar woman’s scent she’d smelled on the body that looked like Joan’s, as well as the unfamiliar scent of the blood on the knife.
This, combined with Nah and Cari’s questions, led to Joan revealing that she had faked her death, using illusion magic to disguise the body of a recently-slain young Kul Tiran woman that had the same height and build as her to pass off as her own body.
Cari’s question of why she had allowed Nat to nearly be hanged for this murder was met with a wince from the tidesage Joan, who admitted that that idea, while it had succeeded in faking her death, hadn’t gone entirely to plan.
“Nat was never supposed to have been the one to take the fall,” Joan said with a grimace. “Nor were you to have found that locket with my picture in it, the one revealing me to be Rolfe Braxton’s wife, a woman of a different name than the false one I had given you. I had planned to escape the certain suspicion resulting from this by attempting to frame the mate of the Draenei male I wanted to take as a mate of my own for when I helped usher in the return of the Black Empire. That part of the plan had backfired, with almost disastrous consequences, and I wasn’t even aware of the arrest, immediate short trial, and sentence of hanging until after Nat had already been released after that last-minute confession by the Brinebreaker hitman underboss that had actually committed the murder for me.”
“My dear sister,” Joan had said next, looking at Nat. “I never meant… please, believe me, I never intended you to take the fall for that murder! After all the friendship you showed me, after all our happy memories hanging out together, I would never want you harmed… Please, believe me, Nat. I wanted nothing more than for you and I and my new mate to usher in the return of the Black Empire together, the three of us taking places of high honor in service to the Old Ones!”
Nat could think of nothing to say. She was torn between pity and fond old memories, and revulsion at who Joan really was, and the sheer number of utterly repugnant crimes she had committed. She was saved from responding by Maya, who had something new to reveal about the bones she and Rylee had been investigating by the altar.
“This was the body,” Maya snarled. “The one that was at Joan’s place, lying in a puddle of blood on the side of the road. This was the body used to look like Joan had been murdered. It’s been hidden here all this time. I knew I didn’t smell Joan’s scent on that body OR on that knife… I should have gone with my gut!”
Nat looked even more repulsed by Joan at this announcement. Meanwhile, Cari had even more to throw at Joan.
“You were also the one responsible for Nat’s Void corruption,” she accused. “All those times she spent alone with you, you were tainting her, and you’re the reason she’s been speaking in Shath’Yar and randomly being covered by unexplainable shadows!”
Joan had winced at not the accusations, but at the look of revulsion on Nat’s face. Her dear friend now seemed to loathe her, and that was a decidedly unwelcome feeling. She turned from Nat, attempting to mask her breaking heart, and decided to address Cari’s accusation instead, a look of genuine confusion now on her face.
“I don’t understand,” she replied to Cari. “Nat? Corrupted?”
“Yes!” Cari replied. “I assumed you did something to her in all those hours alone you two spent together. This corruption all started when you two started spending so much time visiting in your Boralus home! That’s when I first started having an inkling about you…”
“How dare you!” Joan replied. “Nat is dearer to me than a sister! I would never do such a thing to her!”
Joan’s rage disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and she suddenly looked deep in thought.
“Wait a minute…” she said, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the altar, Rylee following her closely in her bear form, looking ready to take a chunk out of her, though Joan seemed to be ignoring the silent threat for now.
Joan began muttering to herself. Something about a letter Marcus Brinebreaker was supposed to have burned, something about the protective spells she placed on Nat to prevent her from being affected by Joan’s Void magics…
“Care to share with the rest of the class, Miss Seaslums?” smirked Nah.
Joan ceased her pacing, returning to the front of the altar to regard Nah coolly.
“You found a letter, you say,” Joan said thoughtfully. “A letter from me.”
“Sounds about right,” confirmed Nah.
“Hmm…” Joan mused next. “And who read my letter?"
“I-I did…” Nat responded, raising a trembling hand.
“I thought so,” Joan nodded. “You’d be the only one that could read that letter.”
“It was in Shath’Yar, wasn’t it?” asked Nah next.
“No,” replied Joan simply. “It was written in Common.”
“H*ll,” exclaimed Nah. “We couldn’t read it; it looked like Shath’Yar.”
“Of course it did,” replied Joan, simply again. “You don’t have the same protective spells I placed on Nat.”
Joan looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke again.
“I believe you would next have believed Nat possessed Void magic abilities. Something that seemed to have come from nowhere. Something severe. Drastic. Alarming. Did this happen?”
“Yes,” confirmed Nah. “She spoke in Shath’Yar sometimes and didn’t realize she was doing so. Shadowy apparitions would appear over her face sometimes. She could read that Shath’Yar letter that you said was Common. Drove me crazy for a bit, so to speak. Thanks for that, Joan.”
“Yes,” nodded Joan, seeming to think out loud for a moment. “Yes, it would have driven you all a bit… and then… but that means… which would lead to… hmm….”
Joan trailed off, appearing to be thinking hard on the explanation to Nat’s seemingly unexpected, even to her, Void corruption.
“Reading and speaking Shath’Yar, without knowing she’s doing either,” Joan spoke up again. “These shadowy apparitions…”
“That’s right,” Nah growled. “YOU did that.”
“I did,” confirmed Joan. “But not how you think.”
“Do explain.”
“Well, your next step, then, would have been to follow a certain rowboat from a certain lookout point, after which each of you, excluding Nat, would have experienced a rather odd series of events at a rather surreal underwater tavern… am I right?”
“Who possessed Nat and made her do all those things that were so unlike her?” Cari said, confirming Joan’s suspicion of that evening. “Dancing well instead of awkwardly, and the rest. When we were in that rowboat. That vision we had at the bottom of the ocean…”
“You make Nat’s corruption sound unintentional,” Nah was also saying. “Yet why don’t I believe you?”
“Because,” Joan answered Nah first. “I may desire the Black Empire’s return with all my heart, but one thing I would NEVER intentionally do is harm Nat in any way, unless circumstances absolutely FORCED me to do so…”
“Okay,” Nah replied. “So riddle me this… Why Nat?”
“You experienced something underwater, right?” Joan said, now answering Nah and Cari at once as Rylee and Maya continued to sniff around the cave as they listened, and Nat looked on, speechless at the revelations on her former friend.
“Uh, yeah,” confirmed Nah.
“Then,” Joan said next, now standing up straighter and sounding more sure of things. “I know what has happened.”
Joan dropped the metaphorical bombshell next.
“Nat was never corrupted with Void corruption.”
“B-but,” blurted out Nat, speaking again finally. “All the Shath’Yar reading and speaking, and the shadows, and people telling me I do crazy things…”
“These were spells intended for Marcus Brinebreaker’s followers to see and be impressed by. Marcus Brinebreaker had the same protective spells cast on him that you did, from a distance as I’d walk by him, covered by my distribution of food to the poor.”
“…We,” said Nah next, suddenly looking a little distraught. “WE were corrupted…”
“Quick on the uptake, are we?” Joan smirked at Nah. “Yes, the things you saw and heard from Nat that so alarmed you were spells I put in place for followers of Marcus Brinebreaker to detect, the better to see him for the important leader I wanted him to seem to be. The Void corruption on that letter is what really amplified the Void spells. Somehow, especially when you heard the contents of the letter detailing how to find me for the first time, each of you were corrupted by the Void spells I had set in place.”
“Think about it,” Joan said, pacing again. “Each of you would have seen and heard Nat doing things she wasn’t really doing, which is why she was unaware of having done them – she hadn’t really! These were Void whispers and delusions of your own! And each of you, excluding Nat, would have suddenly acquired the memory of Nat, underwater, behaving in a manner that would be quite odd for her, in an underwater cavern, which would have led to an underwater cave, with Nat feeling like no time had elapsed between you first acquiring this memory and you sharing it a moment later. Each of you would have seen and heard my magical recordings I left for Marcus Brinebreaker, excluding Nat, who would have seemed to be frozen in time for the duration of them – no time had elapsed, and you had acquired these recordings in the blink of an eye!”
“So we’re all toys, here, huh, Joan?” Nah growled. “To be played with and have our emotions tugged and strung along?”
“Don’t act so distraught, Kaldorei,” sneered Joan. “It was never intentional. This would never have happened if Brinebreaker had burned that letter as I ordered him to!”
“Oh, and blowing Boralus up WAS intentional?” Nah shot back.
“Of course it was,” replied Joan simply. “Bombing Upton Borough would have turned it into another slum, which the guards would then be removed from, it being a useless ruin. That would free it up for Marcus Brinebreaker to move into, which is really the only reason I wanted to use him and his gang all along. Doing so would have given me a foothold right on Proudmoore Keep’s front gate, as it so closely neighbors the upscale district. From there, with Jaina missing, and that weak Katherine Proudmoore returned to power in Jaina’s absence, it would have been EASY to storm the keep, kill Katherine Proudmoore, and assume the throne myself. From there, rule over all Kul Tiras would give me the power I need to usher in the return of the Black Empire!”
“It sounds a lot like everything would be better if you’d simply stayed dead,” Maya growled next.
“You…” began Cari. “…really don’t realize how nonsensical that plan sounds.”
“Right?” snickered Nah. “It’s as twisted as her knickers are.”
“Cool…” Nah next said, turning to Joan. “Great. But… why her? Why Nat? Why protect my Bestie, specifically, from all this… Black Empire nonsense?”
“Because she is MY best friend, ELF!” raged Joan suddenly. “You think I wanted her harmed? I’ll remove YOU, just like I did that GOAT woman!”
“YOU BETTER NOT HURT MY BESTIE!” shouted Nat next, quivering rage and rushing up to stand between Joan and Nah.
“Joan,” Nah was chuckling. “We get it. You’re a lunatic corrupted by the Void whispers of the Black Empire. Surrender peacefully… or die.”
“Joan,” Nat said next. “How could you… How could you do this… How could you murder an innocent woman, just to cover your retreat because of a simple picture in a locket… How could you be the Tidesage… How could you want to blow up Upton Borough, to murder so many… How could you want the Black Empire to return…”
Rylee, still in her bear form, lunged forward next, not even wanting to give time for Joan to respond to Nah’s ultimatum or Nat’s broken heart. She snapped her jaws closed around Joan’s left calf, her enormous bear teeth sinking deep into the leg and bending it wrong, breaking the leg. Joan screamed in pain, dropping to one knee, favoring the leg. She looked up to Nat from her kneeling position, a pleading expression on her face.
“Sister!” she pleaded. “Sister, please… My best friend… All that time we spent together… All our memories… Please, don’t let them hurt me!”
“Sister?” Nat said, slowly backing away in revulsion again. “N-no… Not friends… Not anymore… You TRICKED me! You tricked me in the darkest ways! Sister? No… Don’t you even… Don’t you dare… You can’t call me that ever again! AAARRRGGH!”
Nat acted quickly and rashly next, a snapshot frostbolt narrowly missing Joan and smashing harmlessly on the back wall of the cave. Nat stood trembling with rage, unable to aim properly or to compose herself for another spell right away.
“You ATTACKED me?!” Joan gasped, looking suddenly more in pain from heartbreak than from Rylee’s bite. Nat turned away, not wanting the suddenly tearful Joan to witness her own tears.
“Well,” Nah said matter-of-factly. “You kinda backstabbed Nat’s trust there, Joan.”
“You stay out of this!” Joan snarled up at Nah.
“You don’t yell at my bestie!” Nat said, whirling back around on Joan in a rage. “My REAL bestie!”
“You made me think you were killed…” Nat croaked next. “Murdered…”
Cari, who had turned away at the sight of so much blood from Rylee’s bite, winced at that memory as well.
Maya, meanwhile, began scooping ironvine seeds from her pockets, dropping them between herself and Joan. Vines ran up Maya’s body, twisting and writhing around and reaching out to violently grab Joan’s right arm, yanking it out tight and binding it, outstretched, to herself, rendering the arm useless. The vines tightened and twisted, twisting Joan’s right arm with it. She screamed in pain again as the arm started issuing snapping and popping sounds.
Rylee, still in her bear form, reared up on her hind legs. She stretched her front paws high above her, intending to fall forward and crush Joan, but she scampered backward, leaving Rylee to bellyflop onto the hard stone floor with all the weight of a bear. The air rushed out of Rylee’s lungs, and she pulled herself back away from Joan painfully.
Nah attacked next, pulling out her flintlock pistol and firing a shot into Joan’s uninjured leg. Now severely wounded in both legs, Joan let out another scream, falling forward onto her knees and her one free hand, the other still yanked tightly out toward Maya with ironvines. She looked up to Nat, a pleading expression again on her face.
“Sis-…” Joan began, though she cut herself off, not wanting to anger Nat when she needed her most by calling her that forbidden word again. “Nat… Please… I know you feel I’ve wronged you, but please, for the sake of our memories together, please, help me! Please, they’re hurting me so badly! Surely you won’t allow such a slow and painful murder to happen right in front of you?”
Nah, her weapon still trained on Joan, turned to look at her best friend with concern in her eyes, worried about what her response might be.
“Y-you…” stammered Nat. “You deserve… You want to destroy the whole world, and everyone I care about… I… I won’t help you! B-but… but I can’t watch this, either… My former friend… Memories… I-I can’t watch…”
Nat turned her back on her seemingly helpless former friend, walking away a few paces.
“Wh-what?!” gasped Joan, tears pouring from her eyes, heartbreak and fear evident in every droplet. “W-wait! Wait, Nat! NAT! NAAAAAT!”
“N-NO!” Nat shook her head, still facing away from Joan and standing at a distance.
“But I befriended you!” cried Joan. “I trusted you! I PROTECTED YOU!”
“And then you betrayed me, you were betraying me the entire time!”
“Come back!” Joan said, becoming angry, her own sense of having been betrayed now evident in the look of rage that was now crossing her face. “Come back RIGHT NOW!”
“NO!”
Joan’s rage compounded then. She rose upright again, still on her knees, her one free hand outstretched at Nat. Something vaguely shadowy shimmered around Nat, then faded and disappeared.
“What was…” Nah stammered, looking at the magic being made visible around Nat and then disappearing. “What just happened…?”
“No more protection for you then!” Joan snarled. She had just dispelled the protective spells she’d placed on Nat!
Maya snarled, tightening and twisting the vines on Joan’s arm, eliciting a grunt of pain, but the damage was already done – Nat was no longer protected from Joan’s Void magics!
Joan spoke in rapid Shath’Yar again, her free hand once more outstretched toward Nat, as though reaching out to seize Nat’s head. When her spell was cast, she cackled with glee, despite her pain and predicament.
“Now you’re MINE!” she exclaimed.
Joan turned her free hand from reaching to Nat’s head to facing the palm up toward the cave’s ceiling. She made a fist, though her index finger was curling in a beckoning motion. She was beckoning Nat to herself, a soft, friendly smile now eerily crossing her face.
“Don’t listen to her, bestie!” called Nah.
Nat began exuding a shadowy aura incessantly, and this time, it was plain that it wasn’t merely an illusion Nat’s Void-tainted friends were seeing. Nat seemed to want to step forward, to go to Joan, but she also seemed to want to veer left, to go to Nah. Every move was a struggle.
“I-…” she managed. “I… auk… uuurrrghhh…”
“That’s it, my sweet sister,” coaxes Joan. “That’s right… Come to your TRUE best friend… Come, sister, and save me… Stand with me… FIGHT with me…”
“N-no…” Nat said weakly, sinking to her knees. “No… d-don’t…”
Joan repeated her Shath’Yar spell again, and Nat gasped, suddenly going quite still and rigid. She ceased struggling, rose to her feet, and began walking…
…right to Joan.
Nat turned when she reached Joan’s side, standing there and facing the group, shadows continually flitting across her visage. The whites and purples of her eyes were obscured from view from the shimmering black shadows swirling within them.
“Nooo…” moaned Nat, looking quite distraught at the vision of her best friend turning on her, on all her friends. Even knowing it was a mind control spell, it was still devastating to behold, to fathom, to process.
Joan, meanwhile, was looking up into Nat’s eyes, smiling fondly. She seemed to be deluding herself that Nat was joining her of her own accord, even though she must have known, logically at least, that Nat was only acting as she was because of Joan’s mind control spell.
“Now, dear sister…” breathed Joan. “Help me… Save me…”
“O-oh!” Nat said, seeming to robotically display her normal personality. “Right! By the Old Ones, for the glory of the Black Empire, I won’t let ANYone hurt you… Sister.”
Nat next touched the "Clothing" rune on her somewhat new mithril charm bracelet, and her outfit changed to her summoning gear! Fel-green robes, complete with small braziers of fel-green fire for shoulderguards and a fel-green cloak and gloves, suddenly replaced her black shirt and pants she usually wore for hard Whitewind Company expedition work. A sword that glowed fel-green with fel runes etched all over it appeared on her hip. Her black diamond ring and deep purple eyes both glowed like dark purple spotlights as she glared at those who would lift a hand to Joan. Her skin was far more pale than usual, and the look of terrible vengeance on her face was unlike anything ever before seen on her face.
Nat froze again, as though fighting something within herself. Her eyes welled up, just slightly, but then she composed herself, the comfort of her familiar powers lending her great confidence. She begins incanting in what sounds like Erudun. "Techar, re." Nat’s incantation brought with it a slight gust of wind, and, much more notably, her ring suddenly shimmered even more brightly! It began illuminating the area around Nat, out to a few feet, in an eerie black light. The temperature in the cave immediately dropped, dipping lower than it was before the group had entered it from the snow flurries outside, colder than it was before they had all changed back into dry clothes after their swim. Her purple eyes also seemed to increase their glow, illuminating her pale face in an eerie purple light.
A blistering cold wind blasted the area as Nat began incanting in Eredun, and a dark, black portal opened up. Imps poured from it, bursting into fel-green flames as Nat continued to incant in Eredun, while several pairs of shadowy hands reach through from the other side of the portal angrily, trying to re-ensnare their prey.
Nat consumed the imps with the felflame spells, absorbing their power as she continued to incant in Eredun. "Parn, zennshi ze laz! Amir te aman! Veni romathis theramas zar, lek zar mev parn! Aman ze toralar, re! Tichar, re! Maz zila alar ze zar rethul ze zila belan zila golad th thorje!"
As Natasha continued to incant, the area suddenly darkened! Rushing winds blew hair and clothes and debris fiercely, and a booming, impossibly deep voice seemed to join Natasha’s own, incanting the same words she was, completely in unison with her.
Nat shouted over the rushing winds, in unison with the impossibly deep voice. "Parn, rukadare! Parn, naztheros! Parn, mardeem! Amir te theramas, laz mishun ze zhar Ashjiraka Revola! Amir te ashj, zekul te revos! KIEL ZAR GOLAD RAKA ZAR MELAR ZE TE TIRIOSH!"
Nat thrust her hands and face to the dark, debris-filled cave as she continues to incant in unison with the impossibly deep fel voice. As they did so, fel imps again swarmed the area, this time taking up defensive positions around Nat and Joan, and larger and larger demons began to spew forth through the portals, flooding the area.
When her incanting ceased, Natasha turns her glowing purple eyes on her friends, standing taller than usual, straight-backed and proud. Power and confidence exude from every fiber of her being. Upon gazing at her friends, however, her expression softened once more. "Friends... H-help me..." She suddenly jerks upright again at a word of Shath'Yar from Joan, now staring past her friends as though not seeing them, a grim expression on her face once more as she and her minions now appeared prepared for battle.
As the winds died down, the cave returned to normal, and all went still and quiet, Natasha faced off against her friends, an entire demonic horde standing behind her. She returned to incanting again, commanding her demons to attack! They surged forward! Mek-Barash, Nat’s towering Wrathguard ensconced in plate armor with axe blades jutting out of them and brandishing an enormous double-bladed battleaxe, turned and went for the one binding Joan in ironvines, bashing her over the head with the flat of his axe and leaving her stunned and out of commission for a time.
“Maya! No!” Cari cried, the attack on her mate spurring her into action, blood present or not. She brandished her wand, the tip crackling as the room seemed to slow down for herself and her friends, giving them more time to act, while seeming to slow for Joan and her mind-controlled victim. Cari had just cast Time Warp!
Her next act was to cast a silencing spell on Nat, which cut off her Eredun incantations, leaving her powerless to command her horde. The demons went still with the source of their control now silent. Cari’s next act was to send an arcane blast at Mek-Barash, blasting him away from Maya and leaving him in a crumpled heap on the floor. Mek-Barash quickly leaped to his feet after, but, with Nat silenced, he had no orders to follow, and, being absolutely under her control, he wasn’t about to act of his own accord, either. He stood there, menacing and growling, but he was nothing more than an imposing figure in the corner now.
Rylee was next. She reared up on her hind legs, letting out a wall-shaking, incapacitating roar from her bear form! Nat and all her fel minions were incapacitated, too disoriented to act even if Nat hadn’t been silenced. Joan alone seemed unaffected, in too much pain to be impacted by a shouting bear.
Rylee surged forward after Joan next, swiping a bear paw the size of a trash can lid at Joan’s head, knocking her almost senseless with a force that might have even rattled her teeth.
Nah acted next. Distraught at having her best friend turn on her, even if just from a mind control spell, her hand was shaky as she brought up her flintlock pistol to fire again at Joan. Her shaky hand threw off her aim…
Joan winced at the sound of another pistol shot, though when she opened her eyes, she realized she hadn’t been fit. Her next realization made her shout in dismay anyway…
…Nat, still standing there in defense of Joan, maintained a stoic expression in her mind-controlled state as blood poured from a hole in her abdomen, soaking the front of her fel-green summoning robes in blood.
Nah, seeing where her shot had gone, threw her pistol away in anguish of heart, dropping to her knees. The flintlock pistol struck the stone floor, going off again…
…this time firing right through Nat’s chest. Nat fell over backward, flopping limply into a quickly-growing pool of her own blood. Nat’s minions, for some reason, retreated back through dark portals at this event… how? Were they still under Nat’s control, then? Were they under permanent orders to flee the field if their commander were to be felled? This must meant that Nat still lived!
Everyone else in the cave, at that point, Joan included, cried out in heartbreak, tears of grief appearing on many faces, with Nah now on her knees, pounding her fists repeatedly on the floor.
“NAT! NAAAAT! NOOOOO!” cried Joan, tears pouring from her eyes. “ELF! HOW COULD YOU?!”
“What’d you say, b**ch?” growled Nah, rising to her feet again.
“How COULD you?!” repeated Joan. She raised her free hand again, facing it toward Nah, and unleashed a Tidesage’s hydromancy spell at Nah. A powerful jet of water the size of that flowing through Stormwind’s canals blasted toward Nah, smashing into her and sending her flying into the far cave wall behind her, holding her pinned for a moment before dissipating and dropping her into the frigid water around the dry land in the center of the cavern.
Rylee leaped back into the melee again after that, swiping furiously and bashing Joan again, knocking her unconscious. Joan dropped to the cave floor, her breathing shallow as she laid there like a rag doll.
Maya, meanwhile, was doing her utmost to heal Nat. Druidic healing magics flowed from her and into Nat, and the bullet in Nat’s chest was pushed up and out, the flesh sealing itself behind it. The flintlock pistol ball rolled off of Nat’s lifeless-looking form and onto the cave floor, following a miniature canyon in the floor as it zigzagged its way down into the water. Nat, who had been paling more and more, regained some of her color, and her lips, which had been going purple, began to regain color as well. Her breathing stabilized as Maya, looking exhausted from the healing, continued to work.
Nah, by this point, had crawled back out of the water, crossing the floor of the cave in a rage as she stalked purposefully forward toward the Tidesage. When Nah reached Joan, words seemed to fail her. Lacking her usual witty comment in her fury, Nah swung one foot back on one powerfully-built Kaldorei leg, muscles built from her time as an Illidari, then swung it forward, her former Illidari strength combining with her speechless fury to send Joan’s head snapping backward, where her head connected with her own back with a loud SNAP sound coming from her neck. Joan’s head remained where it was, the back of it now in permanent contact with her own back, between her own shoulder blades.
Joanessa Seaslums was dead.
Cari, looking a bit sickened at witnessing the kick and its after effects, turned away with a groan. Rylee, still in her bear form and still furious, was roaring at Joan’s lifeless face. Maya looked exhausted from her healing work she’d done thus far. Nah, however, went straight to Nat next.
Nah kicked Joan’s limp body out of the way, sending it rolling a few feet. She knelt next to her best friend, her hands shaking in anger and anguish of heart as she immediately set to work implementing skills she’d picked up during all the times she’d spent recovering in Stormwind’s hospital from other conflicts.
Nah produced from her pouches the odd crimson vials rogues drink to heal wounds, a thick, viscous green liquid, and some bandages. A dagger came from her sheathe, and she dug out the other bullet from Nat’s abdomen as Rylee, now in her worgen form, worked her own druidic magics to heal Nat’s abdominal wound from the bullet and whatever Nah’s dagger might do as it worked out the bullet. When it was out, Rylee was able to seal the wounds, internal and external, after Nah had poured in some of the healing potion in her crimson vials, and some anti-coagulant, the viscous green fluid. Nah bandaged the wound, protecting it against reopening, and then Nat appeared to be stable enough to move.
The group moved to the Whitewind Grace’s sickbay in Stormwind first, carrying Nat through a portal Cari conjured in the cave that led to Stormwind. Nah had First Mate Nathaniel record the incident, every detail of it, including her own misfires on Nat, into the logs, as healers worked on Nat still further. Eventually, they’d done all they could, and they agreed with Cari that Nat should be moved to the hospital in Dalaran, where tenured doctors and healers could treat her further.
Once Nat was in a hospital bed and it was deemed that Nat would make it through the night, the rest of the group began to speak of going home for the night. A letter was dispatched to Nat’s mate, Celeste McCullough, in their Pandaria home to let her know what had happened. Celeste received the letter well after the last of the group had gone home, though she found Nat unconscious still. Celeste went on to spend the night in Nat’s hospital room.
In the meantime, the Kul Tiran government had discovered the events that had transpired in the Stormsong Monastery’s cave, being informed by the Whitewind Company’s Kul Tiran point of contact, Lady Calleigh Silversong, the influential Kul Tiran woman that had helped them several times throughout their investigation of the Brinebreaker gang. The Kul Tiran government expressed their condolences to the group regarding the near-disastrous ending to the conflict, as well as their well-wishes for Nat’s speedy recovery.
They also announced their desire to honor each member of the group for stopping not only the Brinebreaker threat, but also uncovering the Tidesage threat and foiling her plans to destroy Upton Borough and then assassinate Lady Katherine Proudmoore in a coup to usurp the throne as a means to somehow resurrect the Black Empire. How they wished to honor them, however, they didn’t say, but it was sure to be a splendid event…
********
Participants:
Nahlia Lifebloom
Natasha Ebonlocke
Maya Maxwell
Carilina Halverson
Rylee Mhorrigan
Each participant gains +1 favor with Lady Whitewind
Whitewind Company gains: Favor of the Kul Tiran Government
Whitewind Company gains: Payments exceeding the original contract for Marcus Brinebreaker after successfully foiling a far more insidious plan and bringing a complete end to the Brinebreaker-Tidesage campaign!